The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1887-06-01

darkness and out from the straw in the cor
ner, coming toward you, and as they come
near you, your light goes out. Strike au-
other match. Ah this is babe, not like
those beautiful children presented i'll baptism:
This little one never smiled; 1t never will
smile. A flower flung on an awfully barren
beach. Oh! Heavenly Shepherd, fold that
little one in Thy arms Wrap around you
your shawl or your coat tighter, for the cold
wind sweeps through.
Strike another match All! is it possible
that that young woman's Scared and bruised
face ever was looked into by maternal ten
derness? Utter no scorn. Utter no harsh
word. No ray Of hope has dawned on that
brow for many year. No ray OF hope ever
gone out Do hot strike another ngnr. fr will
be mockery to kindle another light in such
place as that Pass out and pass down the
street. Our cities of Brooklyn and New York
and other great cities are full of such homes,
and the worst time is the third watch of the
night.
Do you know it is in this watch of the night
that criminals do their worst work? 1t is the
criminals watch.
At half-past eight o'clock you will find
them in the drinking saloon, but toward
twelve o'clock they go to their garrets, they
get out their tools, then they start on the
street. Watching on either. side for the po-
lice, they go to their work Of darkness. This
Is burglar, and the false key will soon
and before morning there will be light on
the sky, and cry Of Fire! firem This is an
assassin, and tomorrow there will be dead
body found in one of those vacant lots. Dur
ing the daytime these villains in our cities
lounge about, some asleep and some awake,
but when the third watch of the night arrives,
their eye is keen, their brain COOL their arm
af fhai,. Foot aaaf tC ax-O fhnty
are ready.
Many of these poor creatures were brought
up in that way. They were born in a thieves
garret. Their childish toy was burglars
dark-lantern. The first thing they remember
was their mother bandaging the brow of
their father, struck by the police club. They
began by robbing boys pockets, and now
they have come to dig the underground pas
sage to the cellar Of the bank, and are pre-
| pairing to blast the gold-vault,
| Just so long as there are neglected children
of the streets, just so long we will have these
desperadoes. Some one, wishing to make
good Christian point and to quote pas
sage of Scripture, expecting to get Script
ural passage in answer said to one Of these
father and your mother forsake you, who
then will take you upF' and the boy said:
"The perlice, the perlicew
in the third watch OF the night gambling
does its worst work. What though the hours
be slipping away, and though the wife be
! waiting in the cherries home! Bring on
more drinks. Put up more stakes. That
commercial house that only little while ago
put out sign of copartnership will in few
seasons, be wrecked on gamblers table.
There will be many a money-till that will
spring a leak. A member of Congress
gambled with a member-elect and won one
hundred and twenty thousand dollars. The
old way of getting living is SO slow. The
old way of getting fortune is so stupid.
Come, let us toss up and see who shall have
it. And SO the work goes on, from the
wheeling wretches pitching pennies in rum
grocery up to the millionaire gambler in
the stock market.
In the third watch of the night, pass down
the streets of these cities, and you hear the
click of the dice and the sharp, keen stroke
Of the ball on the billiard-table. At these
places merchant princes dlsmount and legis-
lators, tired Of making laws, take a respite in
breaking them. All classes Of people are
robbed by this crime--the importer Of for
eign silks and the dealer in Chatham street
Observation-Disclosures. The clerks OF the
store take hand after the shutters are put
up, and the officers of the court while away
their time while the jury is out.
In Baden-Baden. when that city was the
greatest of all gambling-places on earth
it was no unusual thing the next morning, in
the woods around about the city. to find the
suspended bodies Of suicides. Whatever be
the splendor of surroundings. there is no e1
cuse for this crime. The thunders of eternal
destruction roll in the deep rumble of that
gambling tenpin-alley, and as men come out
to join the long procession of sin, all the
drums Of death beat the dead march Of 6
thousand souls.
!. In one year. in the city of New York, there
were seven million dollars sacrificed at the
gaming-table. Perhaps some of your friends
have been smitten in this sin. Perhaps some
of you have been smitten by it.
Perhaps there may be q stranger in tht
house this morning come from some of the
hotels. Look out for those agents of iniquity
who tarrS around the hotels, and ask you
"Would you like to see the cityF' '.Hav,
iSng iSns SreF up towny' own 'H: NO ' Then % the
villain will undertake to show YOU what he
calls the "lions" and elephants" and after 0
through badness of soul, has seen the lions
and the ''elephantS' he will be on enchanted
ground. Look out for these men who move
around the hotels with sleek hatS-alwayE
with sleek hats-and patronizing air and un
accountable interest about your welfare and
entertainment. You are fool if you cannot
see through it. They want your money. :
In CQeSUUuU SLTetL,
was living in that city, al incident occurred
which was familiar to us there. In Chestnut
street young man went into gambling
saloon, lost all his property, then blew his
brains out, and before the blood was washed
from the floor by the mr. d The comrades were
shuff1ing cards cgain. ou see there is more
mercy in the highwaymen for the belated
traveller on whose body he heaps the stones,
there is more mercy in the frost for the flower
! that it kills, there is moro mercy in the hur'
ricane that shivers the steamer on the Ions
island coast, than there is mercy in the heart
of a gambler for his victim.
In the third watch Of the night, also,
drunkenness does its worst. The drinking
will be respectable at o'clock in the evening,
little flushed at nine, talkative and garru-
louS at ten, at elcven blasphemous, at twelve
the hat falls off, at one the man falls to the
floor asking for more drink. Strewn through
the drinking saloons of the city, fathers,
brothers, husbands sons, as good as you are
by nature, perhaps better.
In the high circles of society it is hushed up.
A merchant prince, if he gets noisy and un-
controllable, is taken by his fellow-reveers,
who try to get him to bed or take him home,
where he falls fat in the entry. Do not
wake up the children. They have had
| disgrace enough. Do not let them know
it, Hush it up. But sometimes it cannot
be hushed up, when the rum touches the brain
| and the man becomes thoroughly frenzled.